Media Coverage

Meriton Tackles Ethernet Transport

By Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading

Optical equipment vendor Meriton Networks Inc. has unveiled a technical roadmap, dubbed Carrier Ethernet Transport (CET), that it says will simplify carrier data transport by integrating Ethernet tunnels and optical switching. (See Meriton Touts CET.)

Meriton's approach differs from the current alternative approaches of all-IP traffic over WDM, favored by Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), and Ethernet over optical, which is the Ethernet services approach standardized by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). In the CET model, the Ethernet traffic is switched within the WDM transport layer in single Gigabit Ethernet streams. More on that later.

The CET approach also provides the underlying infrastructure story that's currently missing from the ongoing Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) and Transport MPLS MPLS (T-MPLS) debate. Meriton is one of the few companies that isn't pinning its flag to either of these approaches, as it looks to manage the traffic on a single box, its 320-Gbit/s 7200 OSP (Optical Switching Platform). (See PBT Gathers Support and PBT's Ethernet Appeal.)

PBT support, though, is a Meriton priority, and understandably so. PBT's leading carrier supporter is BT Group plc (NYSE: BT - message board; London: BTA), and Meriton is already involved in BT's NGN (next-generation network) project, the 21CN, as a partner of Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Ltd. , one of BT's lead vendor partners. (See Nortel, Siemens Win PBT Deals at BT and Fujitsu Shares Its 21CN Success.)

So Meriton's approach seems to be hitting a number of buttons, but is it a story that will resonate with carriers?

"This is a pretty big deal... There is a huge global process at work to move beyond the Sonet/SDH MSPP to something more packet-friendly," says Scott Clavenna, chief analyst at Heavy Reading. "Basically all packets are going to enter the network via an Ethernet interface, and in many cases travel through the access network over an Ethernet-based PON or carrier Ethernet infrastructure -- it follows that ultimately you'd want the transport network to be as 'Ethernet' as possible."

Meriton's VP of marketing, Ken Davison, acknowledges that the development of the CET approach has been driven by the future requirements of large Tier 1 carrier NGNs, which will carry increasingly high volumes of Ethernet traffic generated by residential (IPTV, gaming, multimedia services) and enterprise customers.

"The talk so far has been about Ethernet services –- the MEF has defined services, but has assumed an underlying transport layer," says Davison. "Ethernet needs to be supported in the transport layer," which in NGNs will be based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 's OTN (Optical Transport Network) standards.

"SDH/Sonet was developed to handle TDM traffic -- it's not up to the NGN task. SDH/Sonet will no longer be the underpinning transport mechanism in NGNs. WDM will fill that role," he adds.

Meriton's belief is that the Carrier Ethernet Transport approach is best suited to NGNs because it is simple and operationally efficient, and that carriers will start adopting this approach within the next few years.

Meriton has even placed a market value on CET: Based on broad carrier Ethernet equipment market projections from Infonetics Research Inc. , Meriton believes the market for CET infrastructure will be worth more than $2.3 billion in the 2007-2009 timeframe.

Meriton's CET-based proposition will be implemented in two phases, both of which will be completed in the second half of this year, according to Davison.

Phase 1: Switching GigE Wavelengths
Meriton has developed a technique, which it is building into the 7200's switching fabric, that enables sub-wavelength switching -- that is, the switching of individual GigE streams that have been aggregated in a 10-GigE wavelength.

Meriton says this can currently be achieved using equipment from other vendors, but only using multiple network elements, and not in an integrated architecture. Being able to switch GigE streams at the optical layer gives carriers an easy-to-manage, reliable, and cost-efficient way to deliver traffic from A to B with guaranteed service-level agreements (SLAs), claims Meriton.

"One of the big challenges facing major, Tier 1 operators is switching Ethernet traffic at the edge of the network," says Davison. He adds that the all-IP approach doesn't scale well and requires significant over-provisioning, while in an overlay network the traffic is "hairpinned" between multiple ports housed in different network elements.

Phase 2: Dealing With PBT & T-MPLS
Meriton is developing what it calls an Intelligent Ethernet Gateway (IEG) to manage PBT and T-MPLS Ethernet tunnels, though PBT capabilities are being prioritized and will be available first.

This product, which will be an optional element in the 7200 optical switch, "can terminate tunnels, switch the tunnels individually, or offload to an MPLS network," says Davison.

Put another way, the IEG will act as a PBT/T-MPLS tunnel switch, but, says Meriton, it is not a Layer 3 Ethernet switch.

The IEG will inspect the Ethernet tunnels and aggregate the tunnels that are carrying the same type of traffic, such as video, and which need to be switched to the same location.

Meriton is building its IEG blade, which slots into the 7200, using technology from Danish vendor Tpack A/S . (See Meriton Uses Tpack.)

Heavy Reading's Clavenna points out that Meriton isn't the only one working on this idea. "[Carrier Ethernet Transport] is a good idea, but Meriton will undoubtedly face a lot of competition, first from Nortel Networks Ltd. (NYSE/Toronto: NT - message board), then Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU - message board), and basically every other MSPP and metro DWDM vendor. So the market is a great opportunity, but crowded and full of hungry vendors."